ITEMS OF INTEREST February 4, 1911 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

An additional endowment of ten million dollars to the Carnegie Institution of Washington has been donated by Andrew Carnegie, the founder. This brings his gifts to the institution up to a total of twenty-five million dollars. Coupled with the formal announcement was a declaration by Mr. Carnegie that the work of the institution had cleared from blame the captain of a British ship who ran his vessel upon the rocks, by proving that the British admiralty charts by which the captain was guided were two or three degrees astray. The discovery of sixty thousand new stars by Professor Hale at the observatory on Mt. Wilson, Cal., was also announced. This observatory, established by the institution, is to have a new telescope with a lens of one hundred inches diameter.

A special ruling permitting railroads to reduce rates on one day's notice, in cases of violations of the long and short haul clause of the railroad law, has been made by the interstate commerce commission. Hundreds of complaints have been made, and in many cases the railroads admit their justice, being willing to cut the rates. Heretofore, however, the changes have all been suspended pending investigation, and in some instances were held up for months. As the commission has repeatedly granted shippers reparation, the railroads wish to act quickly.

A knotty point of American bankrupt law has been settled by the United States supreme court, which holds that a secured creditor is not entitled to apply the proceeds from the sale of his securities first to interest on his principal accrued since the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, and then to the principal, and to prove a claim in a bankruptcy court for the balance of the principal. The rule, following the English usage, fixes the moment when the affairs of the bankrupt are supposed to be wound up, at the time the petition in bankruptcy was filed.

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